Bird Flexiglas Asphalt Roofing Products
Product Description
Bird Flexiglas was a line of asphalt-based roofing products manufactured by Bird & Son, Inc., a Massachusetts-based building materials company with roots stretching back to the nineteenth century. Bird & Son operated for decades as a significant supplier of roofing, siding, and insulation products to the American construction and industrial markets. The Flexiglas line represented one of the company’s branded offerings in the asphalt roofing segment, marketed for its durability and weather-resistant properties.
Asphalt roofing products of this era were widely used across residential, commercial, and industrial construction throughout the United States. Bird & Son supplied these materials to contractors, builders, and industrial facilities, making their products a common presence on job sites from the mid-twentieth century onward. The Flexiglas name was applied to products that were positioned as reinforced or performance-grade roofing solutions within the company’s broader catalog.
Bird & Son’s manufacturing operations and product lines have since become the subject of significant asbestos-related litigation and trust fund claims, reflecting the widespread use of asbestos-containing materials across the company’s product range during the years these products were produced and sold.
Asbestos Content
Asbestos was a preferred additive in asbestos roofing and building products for much of the twentieth century. In asphalt roofing products, asbestos fibers — most commonly chrysotile (white asbestos), though amphibole varieties were also documented in certain formulations — were incorporated to improve tensile strength, fire resistance, and dimensional stability. Asbestos-reinforced asphalt products were considered superior to non-reinforced alternatives for their resistance to thermal cracking and weathering.
Bird & Son’s asphalt roofing products, including those sold under the Flexiglas name, are documented in asbestos trust fund records as having contained asbestos. The Bird & Son’s Asbestos Settlement Trust, established to compensate individuals harmed by exposure to the company’s asbestos-containing products, specifically identifies roofing and related building materials among the product categories for which claims may be filed. Trust fund documentation confirms that Bird & Son manufactured and distributed asbestos-containing roofing materials during the relevant production period.
The use of asbestos in roofing products was not regulated or restricted in the United States until the latter decades of the twentieth century. Regulatory actions by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) and related federal frameworks eventually addressed asbestos in building products, but for much of the period when Bird Flexiglas products were manufactured and installed, no such restrictions were in place.
How Workers Were Exposed
Industrial workers and others who handled, installed, repaired, or removed Bird Flexiglas asphalt roofing products faced potential exposure to asbestos fibers at multiple points during the product lifecycle. Asbestos exposure associated with roofing products generally occurs when the material is disturbed — through cutting, trimming, tearing off old roofing, or abrasive wear — releasing respirable fibers into the surrounding air.
Manufacturing workers at Bird & Son’s production facilities were among those most directly exposed, handling raw asbestos materials and working in environments where fiber concentrations could be elevated during the blending and fabrication process.
Industrial workers generally represent a broad category of individuals documented as potentially exposed to Bird & Son asbestos-containing roofing products. Industrial facilities — factories, plants, warehouses, and processing facilities — routinely used asphalt roofing materials on their structures. Workers employed at these sites, including maintenance personnel, laborers, and tradespeople performing repair or renovation work, could encounter asbestos-containing roofing materials during the course of their employment.
Workers involved in roofing installation and repair activities applied these products in conditions that could generate airborne dust. Cutting asphalt roofing sheets to size, breaking apart old or damaged roofing, and disposing of waste material were all activities associated with fiber release. In industrial settings, roofing repair and replacement was often performed by in-house maintenance crews or contracted workers who may not have been informed of the asbestos content in the materials they handled.
Demolition and renovation workers faced particular risk when disturbing aged asphalt roofing that had become friable over time, as deteriorated asbestos-containing materials are more likely to release fibers when disturbed. Workers removing old Bird Flexiglas or similar products during building upgrades, re-roofing projects, or industrial facility renovations could have been exposed during these activities.
The occupational exposure standard for asbestos established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was not set at its current permissible exposure limit until years after many of these products were in active use. Workers employed during earlier periods often labored without the benefit of respiratory protection, exposure monitoring, or hazard communication requirements that were later mandated under federal law.